Hello, internet! 3.3.3 has arrived, bringing with it a decided lack of Ruby Sanctum and Gnomish Liberation Armies. Ah well, there’s a few good things from this patch that are relevant to me (and my readers?). First off, anyone collecting pets should head over to the pet shop in Dalaran, across from the Violet Citadel. They’re selling a few new toys, but also a new small pet: the Blue Clockwork Rocket Bot. The real pet collectors should also be excited to find out that both of the (previously BoP) engineering pets have become Bind on Use, so go find your favorite engineer and get them to make you a Lil’ Smoky or a Pet Bombling. There’s a new gnome vendor outside of the Engineering Trainer in Dalaran, too. You can trade those stockpiles of Frozen Orbs in for eternals, crusader orbs, runed orbs, or even a pattern to make a new Flying Carpet (tailoring-only), the Frosty Flying Carpet. And before anyone asks, yes I dropped a profession to skill up tailoring just for the flying carpet. Every mount counts!
I found it interesting that a lot of people who find this journal were searching for information on Sons of Hodir, polar bear mounts, or the bug with Hodir Dailies not showing up immediately in Dun Nifflem. I’m pretty sure I’ve covered all of those, but just in case I haven’t…
Polar Bear: Brunhilldar Village unlocks when you do the Sons of Hodir quest line. After you’ve quested there (and probably moved on to Dun Nifflem), if you come back you’ll notice they have a single daily quest. You may need to do the optional, non-Sons-of-Hodir reputation quests from the village in the houses overlooking the cliff to unlock some of them. Simply do the daily each day and you will pick up a pouch that contains salted goat milk, yeti cheese, or…. 1 in 50 shot at the Reins of the White Polar Bear Mount. Yum!
Sons of Hodir: “Help, the spear/helm/horn doesn’t appear after I’ve done the quest!” Easy fix, fly out of the village, out of it’s entire phasing area, then fly back in and it should show up.
This question was submitted by Geese of the Steamwheedle Cartel Server: “What level do I need to be to start getting Heirlooms?” Well, Geese, I would say about level 70. As the heirlooms article already covered, you’re looking at four sources for heirlooms — Stone Keeper Shards, level 80 emblems, and winning the Kalu’ak Fishing Derby. The Dread Pirate Ring from the Fishing Derby only really requires you to have Wrath of the Lich King installed. You could take a level one character, set their hearth to Dalaran, and then put them around any of the safe fishing areas in Northrend (Borean Tundra’s icebergs being a good bet) and if you catch the shark, hearth to Dalaran and turn it in for your prize. The competition happens Saturday at 2pm Server (give or take). For Stone Keeper Shards, if your side owns Wintergrasp then any Northrend dungeons you run will grant you Stone Keeper Shards on boss kills. It’s tricky to get into Wintergrasp to spend them, but if your side owns Wintergrasp then most of the time the Wintergrasp Battlemaster will have a portal to Vault of Archavon next to him and you’re set. For Emblems of Triumph, your first Northrend Random Normal Dungeon via Dungeon Finder grants you two Triumph Badges upon completion, so it’s possible for those to add up over time, too. So ultimately, you’re going to need a level 70 character to start getting anything except the ring.
The last of our questions comes from Nalbeb ofSteamwheedle Cartel, he asked about any changes in the past six months to make levelling alts easier. Well, that list is probably too long to go over, but the big one beyond heirlooms is probably to grab a Tome of Cold Weather Flying from your main and mail it to your level 68+ alts. If you have an eighty, there is no reason for your alts to have to walk through Northrend.
I’m working on the Ultimate Gnome article for after midterms this week, but I could actually use some help on this one. When it comes to most of it, I know exactly what I want to write, but I’m having trouble finding armor with a gnome theme. Goggles are a given, but what about the shoulders, breastplate, et cetera? Anyone have any ideas of very gnome-tastic armor? If so, let me know in the comments. And if you have any other questions, just comment and I’ll answer them next update (or write a guide about them if it’s a big question!).
